and nothing happened, he should have been hauled off to the rubber room at Bethesday Naval.
Posted on 11/04/2006 2:16:36 PM PST by loreldan
We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard. Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct. The language of our church bylaws state that as Overseers we must decide in cases where the Senior Pastor has "demonstrated immoral conduct" whether we must "remove the pastor from his position or to discipline him in any way they deem necessary."
(Excerpt) Read more at newlifechurch.org ...
Call them Overseers, or Elders. they did the right thing. Of course the Main Stream Media will report this church discipline in thier papers with the relish they did the sorrid details of the original story?
Well one for two is not bad.
Prayers for Haggard and his wife. I am sure they will need a time of healing and hopefully he gets the counseling he needs and Mrs Haggard gets the counseling she needs and the kids too if necessary.
The thing to keep in mind is that sin is sin in the eyes of God. Whether its stealing bubble gum form the store or committing a homicide. All believers are under the same standard. But Pastors have a higher standard of accountibility because of the leadership role of a pastor. and this was the proper move.
I meant they didn't notice there was a problem, address it privately and pray with him for a change before things got public and nasty.
Yeah, but Chuck 'twarn't no preacherman, Fur Shur.
You are right on all counts.
But I would bet that attendance is down this week and that collections will be down even more.
It's wonderful that they see him as capable of being restored, but they have the cart before the horse here; he cannot be healed until he is ready to confess the sins. They can't do it for him.
I disagree. I bet attendance is through the roof. Alot of people will go the church wanting an explanation. If not satisfied the attendance will drop, but I bet there will be 10 TV news crews in the parking lot and a packed house on Sunday.
The massage guy didnt inhale.
No, he was a US Senator who passes laws, even more reason to be concerned about his character.
Don't worry Pastor Haggard. There's still the Episcopal Church.
Attendance up and offering down. I guess on the check memo you could write for "meth and sex for ted"!
and nothing happened, he should have been hauled off to the rubber room at Bethesday Naval.
There's no excuse for what Haggard did but your response is less than Christlike. And if you can't forgive as God forgives neither can you receive forgiveness.
Don't judge this man prematurely. None of us fully know the extent of our own inward depravity under the right circumstances and apart from the grace of God.
I can't fathom homosexuality personally but as a person who labored for years under the yoke of sexual sin (as well as anger that was a subterranean rage), I know that it is a cruel taskmaster that cannot be broken through sheer force of will.
Satan is alive and well and whenever a preacher falls from grace, he gets more powerful.... :-(
My heart breaks for them. And if he's been taking crystal meth, he really is in the depths of hell.
Would you accept Pasture Haggard?
First of all, he was supposed to go to the rubber room before [plowboy bunnie - ed.], but if nothing happened with [plowboy bunnie - ed.], he wouldn't have needed to go the the rubber room in the first place!
You both may be right- the congregation may be mature enough to get through this.
I guess it depends on how many people were following the pastor and how many were following God.
"address it privately"
He admits he bought dope. Period. The church has no power at all to cover up what may be a felony. Even if both God and the church 'forgives' him, he must be be liable under the law for all crimes. Worse of all, he admits something which is a crime, but denies gay sex, which is probably legal!
Stonewall, God is still in control. Man can, and will often, fail. But the church did the right thing in this case, which is a good witness.
Nonetheless, this is going to hurt a lot of people. Things like this always do. We need to pray the Lord's comfort and protection over the sheep. satan's plan always has been to strike the shepherd so that the sheep would be scattered. But even if they are, the Lord promises to gather His sheep and shepherd them Himself -p.:
7"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 10Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.
11"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy.[a] I will feed them in justice.
17"As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?
20"Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22I will rescue[b] my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken. -ez 34
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